Mayor Sheehan discusses Albany housing issues

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – Over the last two years the number of new housing projects in Albany has slowed down dramatically. Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan wants the common council to pass an ordinance that, she said, would increase the housing supply for middle class families.

Albany’s inclusionary zoning law was designed to ensure new apartment buildings included some low-income homes. Passed in 2017, buildings with more than 50 units had to set aside 5 percent as affordable. But, in 2023, that rule was amended.

“And it simply hasn’t worked and I’ve been telling the council for two years that it’s not working. When I vetoed the legislation, I told them it wouldn’t work,” said Sheehan.

The changes require new buildings with more than 20 units to set-aside seven to 13 percent of units as affordable. The term “affordable” was also redefined. Homes are reserved for Albany families earning 60 percent of the city’s average median income. Sheehan said the change was well intentioned.

“Our council wanted to stop seeing poverty concentrated in our formerly red lined neighborhoods, so their goal was to get more affordable units in other parts of the city,” said Sheehan.

The result? Virtually no new housing has been built. Sheehan said the changes effectively created a housing shortage that is increasing rents and forcing people out of Albany – ultimately hurting the city’s tax base.

Prior to that 2023 zoning law change, builders proposed approximately 1,000 new market rate apartments in the city, Sheehan said. But after that change, she added, that number dropped to fewer than 200 proposed units per year. 

She said the data suggests the amendment to inclusionary zoning resulted in a roughly 50 percent reduction in the number of market rate units – from approximately 300 to 150. 

Sheehan said thanks to low income housing tax credits, and other subsidies, some housing is being built for low-income families – like the housing projects at 97 Central Avenue, 56-64 Broad Street, and 500 Northern Boulevard (previously the Red Carpet Inn). 

But, she said, its middle income families – that don’t qualify for subsidies – that are being left behind.

“Right now only people with very, low-incomes have housing that’s being built in this city. So a teacher, a nurse, city workers, they don’t qualify for that low-income housing. We need to be building housing for them as well,” said Sheehan.

She sent a letter to the common council and requested they pass a new ordinance, that would revert back to the pre-2023 requirements and deliver it to her desk as soon as possible so she can sign it into law before the end of the year.